Japan Shares May Take Further Damage On Monday

The Japanese stock market on Friday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 550 points or 1.4 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 38,780-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on inflation and tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the automobile producers and financial shares, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index stumbled 279.51 points or 0.72 percent to finish at 38,787.02 after trading between 38,753.20 and 39,007.94.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor skyrocketed 7.42 percent, while Mazda Motor tumbled 1.90 percent, Toyota Motor tanked 2.72 percent, Honda Motor fell 0.24 percent, Softbank Group sank 0.85 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial eased 0.08 percent, Mizuho Financial retreated 1.59 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial shed 0.37 percent, Mitsubishi Electric added 0.62 percent, Sony Group dropped 0.97 percent, Panasonic Holdings was down 0.06 percent and Hitachi gained 0.25 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly slipped under water and finished the session with sizeable losses.

The Dow stumbled 444.20 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 44,303.40, while the NASDAQ slumped 268.60 points or 1.36 percent to close at 19,523.40 and the S&P 500 sank 57.58 points or 0.95 percent to end at 6,025.99. For the week, the S&P 500 dipped 0.2 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both fell 0.5 percent.

The weakness that emerged early in the session came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated in February amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations.

Stocks saw further downside after President Donald Trump said he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries this week, with the U.S. imposing tariffs on imports equal to the rates imposed on American exports.

Traders were also reacting to mixed U.S. jobs data, with a closely watched Labor Department report showing weaker than expected job growth in January but an unexpected decrease in the unemployment rate.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran’s crude exports, although a stronger dollar limited oil’s gains. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $71.00 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 2 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Japan will see December data for current account and January figures for bank lending and the eco watchers survey later today. In November, the current account surplus was 3.353 trillion yen; in December, overall bank lending rose am annual 3.1 percent, while the eco watchers survey for current conditions saw a score of 49.9.